Beginning in Newcastle in September, the organisation - part of the Tech City UK network - has hosted competitions in seven Northern cities to find the best emerging talent in the sector.

The 23 companies that impressed the judges most have now been invited to pitch before industry experts at the final of the initiative at the UKFast in Manchester.

Each will have three minutes to promote their business in front of an audience of 250 people, including investors from outside the region.

Although all the companies involved will continue to receive support from Tech North, a group of 10 winners will be chosen, each of which will receive a place at the Tech North pavilion at TechCrunch Disrupt in December, the opportunity to pitch to investors at Bloomberg in January and a Tech North-funded place at the SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, in March.

Leaf.fm, a mobile-first music discovery and engagement platform that requires no subscription;

Reframed.TV , which aims to make online video a more social experience;

skignz, an augmented reality start-up;

Flux, which provides and inventory management system for digital screen networks;

GoRaise, which allows people to raise money for good causes when shopping online and

Tech recruitment and data analytics company Geek Talent.

Northern Stars, which is being supported by Crowdcube, is designed to celebrate, connect and champion blossoming talent in the North, helping ambitious tech entrepreneurs showcase their companies nationally and internationally.

Tuesday’s final will be hosted by Herb Kim, Tech North executive chairman and founder of Newcastle’s Thinking Digital conference.

Winners will be chosen by a five-strong panel of industry experts, including Tech North head Claire Braithwaite.

“The quality of the start-ups involved has been really high,” Ms Braithwaite said.

“It’s also been really exciting that we’ve discovered some companies we hadn’t heard of before.

“We’ve had positive feedback from investors and the companies see it as a opportunity to raise their profile.

“The judges will be looking for companies that can be invested in - great entrepreneurs, businesses that are getting great traction with their customers and really catering to some exciting markets.”

The event will also see the launch of a Northern Stars founders network, through which high profile speakers will be invited to share their business insights at regular events.